Gladwin Communications
Gladwin Communications 'is a Detroit-based company that owns television stations. The company was founded in 1940 by E. Wilford Gladwin, who originally wanted a company to own his radio empire in the Detroit-Windsor area. The company now owns several TV stations throughout the midwest. History Radio Roots In 1935, 26-year old Elijah Wilford Gladwin bought his first radio station, WDMI 620 of Detroit. The station was on the verge of folding and needed better ownership, so the young Gladwin, who began his radio career at 17 as a disc jockey, bought the station. He would buy much more stations eventually, even constructing one in Windsor, and by 1939, Gladwin would have 14 stations, 8 in Detroit, 4 in Windsor, and 2 in areas by Detroit. In 1940, Gladwin bought his 15th station, WYJ 1200 of Detroit, and formed The Gladwin Broadcasting Company. The GBC would stay at 15 stations until 1944, when 6 stations folded during the war. 7 more stations would fold the following year. By 1946, GBC had only 4 stations left. Gladwin would sell all of the stations to rival Blackburn Radio. The GBC was doomed, until Gladwin had an idea. Television. Gladwin thought that he could start a TV business in the area, so in 1947, WDMI-TV , channel 8, was the first GBC TV station. Although Gladwin couldn't start as much TV stations in the area as much as he did with radio stations, the company chose to expand their boundaries. The Great TV Expansion In 1949, Gladwin got a license to build a TV station in Cleveland, OH. The station would go on the air in 1950 as WBKE , channel 6. Gladwin would get more licenses as well. In 1952, WRCE , channel 4 would hit the airwaves in Indianapolis. This would be followed by WWC-TV , channel 23 in Chicago in 1954, WISC , channel 8 in Milwaukee in 1956, KMZO 2 in St. Louis and WPRA 5 in Peoria in 1958, and WCNI-TV 9 in Cincinnati in 1959. All of the stations were independent and aired various programming. The 60s Kick In With 8 stations at the helm, the GBC chose to take a break from expansion, and focus more on the company and it's stations. In 1962, the GBC decided to establish a TV network with their existing stations. The GBN (Gladwin Broadcasting Network) was born. All of the GBC stations participated in the network except for one, KMZO. The station feared that the network would get rid of their local programs and just mess the station up completely. KMZO defected only a day after the GBN's formation, and would remain independent completely, with no GBC ownership. Another thing that happened during the formation was that each station had a similar logo. The only difference being the different channel numbers and callsigns. The GBN was notable for their sports programming, as they broke ground in televised sports in 1969, when they signed a TV deal with the ABA for airing their games. ABA on GBN aired until 1976, when the ABA merged with the NBA. Also in 1969, WSBW 45 of Green Bay, WI hit the airwaves and immediately became a GBN affiliate. GBN reaches it's peak The success of GBN caused a second wave of expansion, starting when WGBD 31 hit the airwaves in Duluth, MN in 1972. This would be followed by GBN's next foray into Minnesota, when WGTC 58 came to St. Paul, MN in 1974. In 1976, KGBI-TV 36 in Cedar Rapids, IA and KGND 56 in Fargo, ND would become GBN's next affiliates. Following this, in 1978, KGSD 14 in Rapid City, SD and WGKC 29 in Grand Rapids, MI would go on the air, and in 1980, in the GBN's last expansion, WGTB 40 in Traverse City, MI, semi-satellite station WGSO 13 in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, and their first Canadian station CGBN 28 in Windsor, ON. KMZO, a former GBC station, would rejoin the GBN in 1981. Now at 18 stations, GBN would become a powerful throughout the Midwest. The success of GBN would rely on popular programs such as GBN 24-7 News, The Late Great Show with Tim and Todd, among others. Sports programming was still popular, as USFL on GBN was becoming a major staple of the network as well, with flagship station WDMI-TV becoming "The Home of Michigan Panther Games". However, with the USFL folding in 1986, GBN instead brought back NFL on GBN, which had been on the air from 1968-1973. Hard Times GBN, still successful, had been dealing with financial turmoil after entering the early 90s, and in 1992, the GBN was closed. But, all of the former GBN stations were still owned by GBC. In 1993, the Gladwin Broadcasting Company changed it's name to Gladwin Communications. E. Wilford Gladwin, still the owner, did not really approve of the name change, but he let it slide. Only a few days after the name change, Gladwin was murdered in the GC headquarters by an unknown man. Gladwin did not have any children, and as a result, the company saw various ownership until 1994, when the company officially folded and sold all of their TV stations. Most of their stations would end up going to a new company, known as Iverson Broadcasting, however, KGND went silent, and KGBI-TV would do the same. A New Incarnation Iverson Broadcasting was originally established in 1993 with hopes of buying TV stations, but their first successful purchase would be in 1995, when they would buy 16 of the former Gladwin Stations. Also in 1995, fourth TV networks were rising in popularity, like the WB and UPN, so as a result, the WDMI-TV and CGBN duopoly and KGSD would become WB affiliates (CGBN would be one of the only Canadian WB affiliates), while WGTC and WGBD would become UPN affilates. WGKC would become a WB affiliate in 1996, joining the fourth network craze. In 1999, WWC-TV, WISC, and WGTB/WGSO all became UPN affiliates, and WGKC, WSBW, WBKE, and WCNI-TV all became WB affiliates, with WBKE changing their callsign to WOWB, which means "'O'''hio '''WB". This left WRCE and KMZO as the only independent stations owned by Iverson. Y2K and Afterwards To ring in the new millenium, Iverson Broadcasting announced a big expansion for 2001, where 4 stations would go on the air. WILV 37 in Louisville, KY, KFND 72 in Fargo, ND, KICR 57 in Cedar Rapids, IA, and WEP 31 in Erie, PA. WILV and WEP would become UPN stations, while KFND and KICR would become WB stations. Iverson was now 20 stations strong and wanted to expand again in 2003, but instead cancelled, stating that they would keep the same 20 stations for a while. And in 2006, it was a whole affiliate mixup with the merger of UPN and The WB. Iverson decided that some WB and UPN stations would go independent, while others either converted to The CW or MyNetworkTV. By 2008, Iverson Broadcasting wasn't Iverson Broadcasting anymore. The company had changed their name to Gladwin Communications, and retaining the history of the old GC. But why? Jeff Iverson, the owner, stated that the name just needed to return to the TV world, as Gladwin had been a name trusted for generations. It made sense for the name change, as 16 of the stations were former Gladwin stations, and 2 of the stations were in locations of former Gladwin stations that had since went silent. Gladwin Today In 2009, Gladwin branched out to social media, and the first post on their Twitter feed had said "Working on some network-related projects for the future". Many TV buffs speculated that GBN would be returning. In 2012, Gladwin hinted again, this time on their Facebook, stating that "Buying the rights to some programs for an interesting project...". The 20-station Gladwin Communications made their first acquisition in 2016, when they bought low-power PBS station WXOB-LP in Harrisburg, PA. Gladwin plans on constructing a planned THF station in Harrisburg. On September 14, 2016, Great Broadcasting Network sued Gladwin Communications for the use of the GBN abbreviation. The legal battle went to the Supreme Court, and GBN emerged victorious. Gladwin announced that day that the new network will now be known as GCN, and the network's planned October 1 launch date will be bumped to October 20. Category:Fictional companies Category:Gladwin Communications